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Culver City Mosque Firmly Set In Community

Andria Kowalchik |
April 12, 2011 | 1:43 p.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

King Fahad mosque (Creative Commons)
King Fahad mosque (Creative Commons)

Usman Madha, Director of Administration and Public Relations at King Fahad Mosque, arrived to work on the morning of September 17, 2001, to sirens and flashing lights.

The Culver City Police Department had received reports of a suspicious package on the front steps of the mosque, and with the terrorist attacks not yet a week old, tensions were running high. But instead of finding a bomb, the police found flowers and a note: “We’re praying for you.” 

After a tumultuous start when it was founded in 1998, the King Fahad Mosque has found not only acceptance from Culver City and its residents, but also a fierce loyalty that has shielded the mosque and its members from destructive outside influences. 

It all started at a council meeting in 1995, when a group of Muslim families asked for permission to buy a piece of land on the corner of Washington Blvd. and Huron Ave. with the intention of building a mosque. Steven Gourley, a councilman at the time, who later became the mosque’s lawyer, said the council had wanted to bring younger families into the area and this was the perfect opportunity, but it certainly was not what they were expecting.

“We were expecting people who looked like us,” said Gourley. “They were almost like an invisible minority until that night.”
Although there were many battles along the way, including a fight over whether the marble exterior could possibly blind drivers, in the end, the mosque got through.

“I told [Usman Madha] ‘You’re not going to like the preventative steps they take against you coming in but once you get inside, you’re inside,’” said Gourley.

The mosque’s importance and position as a pillar in the community has been growing. Five years ago when a group called the “United American Committee” staged a protest outside of the mosque and hung Osama bin Laden in effigy, more than 100 citizens and clergymen stood arm-in-arm forming a symbolic protective fence around the mosque.

“It was a powerful feeling being part of a counter-protest against people lumping all Muslims with Muslim extremists,” said Rev. Jason Gamble of Culver City Presbyterian Church, who attended the protest.

Religious leaders from other faiths have always stood behind the mosque. Initially, when it faced opposition, St. Augustine’s Catholic Church in Culver City dedicated a special prayer in hope the mosque would be built.      

“Now that’s what I call people of the faith,” said Madha. “When you believe in God, you have mercy and love. It doesn’t matter if you’re Catholic, Christian, Jewish, or Muslim.”

Another factor in fostering good relations is the Culver City Area Interfaith Alliance – a group of Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, and Hare Krishnas that meets four times a year to discuss commonalities between faiths and develop deeper understanding of one another, according to Dr. Yama Zacharia Azar, a member at King Fahad.

At these events, “People get a perception of real Muslims rather than just the portrayal they see in the media, which is generally negative,” Azar said.

The mosque is so much a part of the community – 2,000 members strong – that it is now battling a problem faced by any business or organization that is too popular: parking.

 “[Parking] is the biggest issue, but that happens with any business in the city,” said Culver City Police Lt. Allen Azran. “The fact that it’s a mosque is irrelevant.”

Reach reporter Andria Kowalchik here.



 

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